On the awesomeness of technology

[annathepiper]

Something that has really come to light for me in the last couple of years is that I’m really, really, really tired of the “my choice of technology is better than your choice of technology” attitude so many of my geek brethren espouse. Whether it be “Linux is better than Windows” or “Macs are better than PCs” or “Open Source is better than paid software” or “my smartphone is better than your smartphone”, I have yet to see that this is anything more than the simple human tendency to divide up into camps and loudly proclaim how one’s camp is superior to everyone else’s.

And you know what, folks? When it comes to geek technology, this is really kind of silly.

When you get right down to it, no matter what operating system it runs, a computer is pretty goddamn awesome. So are smartphones–I mean, c’mon, you guys, we are all carrying around tiny computers in our pockets. And when I think about this, especially when I think about how computers used to be gigantic boxy things that would take up entire rooms, it’s even more amazing to me.

I’ve been thinking about this this week because I’ve gotten the expected amount of shit for the fact that I’m getting an iPad. But really, I’ve been thinking about it ever since a coworker of mine showed up at work preemptively expecting that the team was going to give him shit for having a Windows phone. That struck me. If you’re going around automatically expecting your fellow geeks to hassle you about the device you’ve chosen to purchase, that really takes a lot of fun out of having it. And it shouldn’t, because again, computers are awesome. And smartphones are just tiny computers.

So I would now like to take this opportunity to celebrate all technology, no matter who makes it. I invite folks to join me in the comments to express love of whatever technology you have and why you love it. I’ll start!

I love my MacBook because it’s clever enough to dual-boot between OS X and Windows 7.

I love Windows 7 because it’s a version of Windows that is not only not sucky, it’s elegant, doesn’t get in your face with the UAC dialogs, and able to play nicely with Bootcamp.

I love Linux because I’ve found it to be an excellent platform to write Python code on. Also, excellent for running our home servers at the Murk, and for playing Nethack on, and hosting my web pages and blogs!

I love Open Source because of healthy respect for the ethic of creating programs just because you love to code.

I love paying for programs I need or games I want because I myself work in the computer industry, and I love supporting my fellow geeks for their work.

I love Firefox because c’mon, FOXES, how can I not?

I love Safari because it’s fast.

I love Internet Explorer 9 because whoa, hey, a version of Internet Explorer that’s actually fast and compliant to recent web standards? Awesome! Well done!

I love my iPhone because it’s a tiny, tiny thing and yet it lets me do so much.

I love my nook because it lets me carry around an amazing number of books with me, and in one small sleek package.

I don’t own one but I love seeing other people’s netbooks because small, cute technology that can go toe to toe with bigger laptops is awesome.

I don’t own one but I love hearing from friends who own Android phones or Windows phones just because a friend saying “I have a toy and it does this really, really cool thing” is awesome, too!

I love flatscreen monitors because yay for occupying less desk space, not to mention no longer throwing radiation at my poor neck.

And I’ll save telling you about why I love my iPad after I’ve actually had some time to break it in. :D

Your turn, people! What technology do you love, and why? (And remember, this is not about ‘I love technology X because it’s not technology Y’–please, let’s not snark. Let’s make this a celebration of all things that are awesome. Thanks!)

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

I love all my kitchen appliances because they allow me to quickly make and store food.

I also love my television/dvd/cd items because they provide me with a wide variety of entertainment on demand.

What I truly love are electric lights because the prevent me from becoming a depressed troll and/or a homicidal maniac in the winter.

I also think computers are pretty F*ing awesome, and not just because I get to help make computer games for a living.

[smeehrrr.livejournal.com]

I love lamp.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Anna, this is a great post!


I love my smartphone b/c with it I am never alone.

I love my netbook b/c it is cheap.

I love my old messed up laptop b/c it plays CDs, DVDs, and b/c all of my .mp3s are on it.

I am still getting to know my Kindle and cannot endorse 'love' yet, though I like it and am intending on forming a longer-term relationship with it.

[crustycurmudgeo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I've been working in technology for more than 40 years. My first love was radio. It was magic to listen on shortwave to stations around the world and then talk to them on ham radio. Then when microcomputers came out, it was cool to have a progammable slave to do real time control and calculations. I used to work on one of the first aircraft digital navigation computers, using the Intel 4004 family parts. I suppose I liked programming for microcontrollers more than programming for PCs. But it's all gone complicated now and I'm too old for the new systems. What I do like today is the internet, digital music and movies stored on hard drive servers and ready to enjoy at the touch of a few buttons.

But it's strange how little the basics have changed in the last 60 years. Refrigerators and air conditioners, ranges and ovens, hot water heaters, flush toilets, indoor plumbing, furnaces, cars, airplanes, radio and tv, all are still fundamentally the same, just refined. When I was a young I expected us to be living the Jetson's life style by now, with air cars, automated Rosie robot housekeepers, artificially intelligent household control systems, etc. But it didn't happen, and it could have. Instead we have the rumba floor sweeper and DTV/DVD.

As you, I enjoy my laptop and other PCs, but only for entertainment. All the CAD software I purchased and learned to use has become obsolete, and besides there isn't much a single person can design now that is anywhere close to what the big companies make.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I'm a historically-PC guy who loves our family iPad, and is thinking I might get an Android smart phone next so that I can check out a different approach from how iOS does things. I like having a job where I can learn a lot about open-source development after working for so long writing about Microsoft products.

I like that recent computers don't seem like computers as temperamental geek-centered devices and just do stuff that I want them to do without all the annoying overhead, whether it's the iPad or TiVo or smart phones. Or the Kindle. I haven't used it much but I really like the latest-generation Kindle that Kathryn has. It just works.

Every one of these devices has slight annoyances and I'm not really a fan of any of the corporate organizations that produce them, but those annoyances are a lot smaller than they could be.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

I'm a PC girl because PCs meet my needs best. I choose a netbook over an iPad because netbooks meet my needs best.

It's not that mine's better. It's that it meets my needs better, while iPads and whatnot are aimed at people who need different things from their portable machines.

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I love my iPhone because my 3yo son can navigate it just as well as I can. I also love it because some of the apps involve things he loves, specifically Thomas and SuperWhy, and I really don't mind letting my son play word- and puzzle-games on my phone.

I love my netbook because I can load all my ebooks (I stick with PDF or HTML so far) and recipes on it, take it to the Shenandoah Mountains, and still have all of the stuff I really need right at my fingertips. Also, it's cute! (My Dell Minis are Itty Bitty, the black one that is currently in pieces, and Little Red, the red one that is currently in my bed.)

I love flat-screen TVs because I can move them without hurting myself.

I love plastic storage bins because I can throw random wires, boards, hardware, and other assorted geek jewelry into them and be organized but still see where everything is.

My desktop makes a very nice heater during the winter, too. o.O

I really want to get an iPad and hang it on the wall to be an interactive calendar, picture-frame, and general view-only workhorse. Being able to scan my kids' art (and recycle the originals) would be another bonus.

I love my scanner because it lets me get rid of old paper records; I scan old bills and burn 'em to CD, check 'em every now and then to make sure everything's OK, and get rid of several pounds of old bills.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I adore my netbook with the passion of a thousand suns. It lets me do just about anything I can do with my big desktop at home, and weighs less than my purse. It has changed the way I travel. It has changed the way I write. It's changed the way I work (I'm not sure I could do what I do for a living without a laptop of some kind, and I bought this one for about $350 -- my first computer, in 1993, cost me almost $2000 and couldn't be carried anywhere). It's an amazing piece of awesomeness, and the best thing I've bought since I bought my digital camera.

Which I also love with a passion. I can remember when I used to be so careful about what I took pictures of because, hey, I had to buy film, and I had to pay to get it developed, and I had to spend the big bucks to go to the in-an-hour place or wait three or four days Just to See If the Photo Came Out. Now I go to a quilt show, or to the beach for a day, and I come home with dozens of shots. And if one didn't turn out? I delete it.

Technology is a wonderful, magical thing. I adore it.

I'm even getting used to having a cell phone. Finally. (I just got my first cell phone last fall because I had to have it for business purposes). Maybe someday I'll get one that really is a little computer in my pocket. But I already have a computer in my purse. And it has a full-sized keyboard [g].

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Oh, and my netbook has added to the way I read and listen to audiobooks, too. Mustn't forget that.

[mdlbear]

I've been a Unix guy since before Windows existed, and I still love it. I especially love my little Dell netbook (running Ubuntu at the moment), and I have my eye on an Android phone one of these days.

I'm very fond of my Kindle, with its razor-sharp eInk display.

Digital cameras are awesome. So are cell phones -- I didn't expect to like my cell phone, but I couldn't live without it now.

Linux, Emacs, and Audacity are probably my favorite pieces of software.

Microprocessors are pretty neat, but after all Asimov had positronic computers long ago. What really impress me are hard drives, 24-bit A-D converters, and amazingly cheap FET condenser microphones. Awesome.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Lets see - The Palm TX PDA, because it has some neat nifty programs and games I still haven't found for my new phone. And I still have all my books in it, because its battery runs longer than the phone.
My New Phone- a Motorola Atrix. It was what I wanted in a smart phone. I've been waiting for the Right Phone for 3 years. And it finally came out. I'm still finding stuff for it, and probably will be for months.
My large flat screen monitor, which makes seeing my typos easier. ;)

And my all time Kitchen Favorite - The Microwave Oven. Where would dinner be without it?

There is much to be thankful for. But I still miss my flying car!

[annathepiper]

I am TOTALLY WITH YOU on the microwave oven. That is a truly lovely piece of technology, because without it, my consumption of food would be way more difficult! I love you, microwave oven. (heart)

Woo for your PDA still working for you too! How long have you had it? And if it is working for you as a book reader, doubly awesome. :D

Yay finding your Right Phone!

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I have had PDAs for years. I started with a Handspring, many years ago now. The current machine I have had for several years now. It replaced a Tungsten E who had the on/off button stop working, and as a result, ran through its battery...
I actually find that it makes a decent book reader. Held sideways, I have enough line length, and response is quick enough on next page, that I can read at a decent speed. And I can put it down and return to where I stop easily. And I am one of those people who like backlit pages. Luckily, I don't have to read in direct sun very often. ;)

[annathepiper]

I go back a while with PDAs myself! I used to have a clamshell Velo which I quite liked, and after that, an HP iPaq. The iPaq was the first thing I ever tried to seriously read ebooks on--doinking around with Microsoft Reader. :)

And yay for you having a device that lets you read as you like! I find backlit reading to be good during a Seattle winter commute, when it's all dark and I happen to be on a bus without built-in reading lights. (Some of the local busses have them, which is cool.)